"He's done his best in a very difficult situation"...

[fatherbrianeno]

There's a narrative around that our spiralling Covid death rate is due partly to people not obeying the rules properly. Do people who believe this think that New Zealand has only had 25 deaths because their population is so well-behaved? While we head to 100,000 dead?

I think we need reminding that one person alone is to blame - the man whose earliest ambition was to be 'world king', Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson.

Johnson locked down too late while seemingly following a herd immunity strategy.
www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/13/coronavirus-science-chief-defends-uk-measures-criticism-herd-immunity?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

After the public began independently locking down, forcing him to make it official, Johnson reopened the economy without a working test-and-trace system.
www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/21/outsourced-firms-miss-46-of-covid-test-contacts-in-englands-worst-hit-areas?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

All while allowing people to enter and leave the UK without testing. And giving out over £17 billion of public money in government contracts without tender to his pals.
www.ft.com/content/ee4f2220-9b22-4a4d-87c2-85e8034f8e8c

The blame for situations like this -
www.hsj.co.uk/acute-care/exclusive-london-will-be-overwhelmed-by-covid-in-a-fortnight-says-leaked-nhs-england-briefing/7029264.article

• should be laid at Johnson's door.

If you think "he's done his best in a tough situation", you've been had.

Can anyone name something - anything - that Johnson has done right, and on time?

Incredible figures too for Vietnam-95 million people and a long border wih China, only 35 deaths. How on earth can they have done that?

Janedown - Do you think in Vietnam they have covid deniers going on mass protests without wearing masks?

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/20/vietnam-covid-economic-growth-public-health-coronavirus

From this it's the same kind of story as Taiwan - aggressive early action, meaningful contact tracing, tight border control and precautionary isolation/tracking for those coming in.

So the opposite of what we've done really.

Or at least, all things that we haven't done.

www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-01-03/singapore-s-covid-success-isn-t-easily-replicated?utm_source=url_link Interesting article today, made me think of this discussion.